A WASTE container firm is celebrating a clutch of new orders worth more than £1.2m after showing the competition a clean pair of heels.

The deals will see Contenur UK, based in Nelson, supply wheelie bins for collecting garden waste and other recyclable material to three local authorities.

The biggest contract secured - with Ashfield District Council in Nottinghamshire - is worth £800,000.

The company submitted a successful bid for the contract after being alerted to it by the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce's tender searching service.

"They basically trawl through the public tenders available in the UK and Ireland for us to see if there is any work we might be interested in trying for," explained Ray Lockley, managing director of Contenur UK which was set up by its Spanish parent firm five years ago.

"Local authorities are major customers of ours and the service regularly comes up with potential contracts for us. It has proved to be a very useful service over the last two years and we are delighted with the latest deal it has helped us win."

The other two contracts - the details of which are being kept under wraps for commercial reasons - were won after successful negotiations between Contenur and the councils.

The contracts come at a time of significant growth for the UK arm of Contenur, which expects to see turnover rise to around £4m this year.

The company, which has its UK headquarters on the Lomeshaye Business Village, is also a major supplier of specialist containers used for waste disposal in the healthcare market.

Ian Johnson, international trade adviser at the Chamber, said the Tender Opportunities service was a valuable tool for companies to get access to a huge potential market.

"Under EU rules any large public tender has to be published every month and we provide a searching service for a number of East Lancashire firms based on their products and services and the countries they are interested in supplying.

"Some companies who already carry out their own searches also use us as a backup to make sure they haven't missed any tenders."

As well as prospective leads, the service is also used for market research purposes.

"Once the contracts have been awarded the winning bidder and the price paid is made public which we pass on to our clients so they know what their competitors are doing," explained Ian.

Businesses taking advantage of the Tender Opportunities scheme pay a small annual subscription and there is also a free trial service available.